Droped into Hell
by LongswordHero
Summary: The battle for Earth was raging when the Covenant's flag ship jumped into slip space and the UNSC gave chase. There they would find more than what they bargained for as one Helljumper will discover Halo's true purpose and its dark secrets.
1. Arrival

Dropped into hell

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo. It is the property of Microsoft.

**Warning:** There will be spelling and grammar errors I won't notice so please don't fill the comments telling me so.

Date: November 2nd 2552

From the perspective of ODST Special Forces Captain Alan S. Kennedy.

I was in the armory of UNSC _In Amber Clad _when what started off as the battle for Earth turned into a crazy pursuit though slip space, I couldn't help but think of what had happened. _I can't believe it! Earth is under attack and we fallow a covenant super carrier into slip space to who knows where. We don't have the fire power to destroy that thing and were probably going to wind up outnumbered._ Kennedy slammed his hands agents the weapons table with a sudden change in thinking._ NO! Earth has hundreds of ships defending her and the orbital defense guns. No, Earth will survive, and at least like this we can go on the offensive._

That idea was comforting to me as I loaded my BR55 battle rifle. I placed the weapon down and picked up my helmet, staring at my reflection in the silver visor. I had short brown hair, an average skin tone, and green eyes. I put my helmet on and used the HUD to check my armor states. The Helmet had a white stripe running down the middle while the armor had similar colored patches on the front plate and other parts. On the right side of my front chest plate was the UNSC hawk emblem and on the left was the ODST emblem of a flaming skull. Back to checking me visor blip appeared on my motion tracker as a casual voice called out from the entrance on the other side of the armory. "I see your green for combat."

The man who called out to me was a close friend. Gunnery Sargent Roger M. DeWitt. He was in full ODST combat armor too, but underneath he had a tan skin tone and dirty blond hair. That was something about ODSTs. We came in all different shapes and sizes but we were all brothers and sisters in black armor and a commitment to cause.

"Hay Rog. How's it going?" my voice was smooth but still held a tough under layer.

"Oh you know, living the dream."

"Like we always talked about in high school?"

"Exactly like in high school."

I was a combat officer who rose through the ranks rather quickly due to mix of heroic acts and death of a superior officer in combat. He went in the old fashion way and took his time despite being two years older. To us rank was no issue so we could act normal around each other.

"Are you thinking of Earth." He sounded a little sorry but knew what I was feeling.

"Yeah. I'm just wondering how much ass the boys back home are kicking." I kind of was to be honest.

We both smiled under our helmets when the red combat lights began flashing as Commander Maranda Keyes voice sounded over the speakers. "All forces prepare for combat, all ODSTs of first platoon be ready to drop in ten."

We were in first platoon. Me and DeWitt exchanged glances through each other's helmets and nodded simultaneously. We both grabbed our weapons and hurried down to the drop bay with marines and navel crew running about. We entered the HEV pod bay when Dewitt gabbed my shoulder and stopped me in my tracks. I looked back at him and said.

"Hay man, what's with that?"

"Look!"

He pointed a finger forward and there they were, the legends themselves. Spartan 117, the Master Chief and Sargent Major Avery Johnson. We were about to go over to maybe get an autograph when Commander Keyes came over the speakers again. "First platoon be ready to drop in one minute."

We ran to our designated pods and strapped in a little disappointed we didn't get to say hi. The pod door closed and sealed shut after I secured my weapon. I took a deep breath as I waited for the beeping to indicate the drop. ODSTs didn't fear anything whether it be the Covenant, other humans, or a drop from orbit of varying speeds where your pod could reach up to one hundred degrees on the inside. Just then I felt a rumble which I guess indicated we were out of slip space and about to deploy when Keys started talking to the AI Cortana and count down froze.

"Cortana what exactly am I looking at?" Said Keys.

In a cold emotionless voice she replied. "That is another Halo."

"A Halo?" I asked myself almost expecting an answer. "What the hell is going on?" An image of the ring world appeared in real time on one of the screens in my pod and instantly I was flooded with questions. But I decided to listen to the commander for the info.

A few pods down Sargent Johnson could be heard coughing to the sound of the discovery with a. "Say what!?" Or he could have just accidentally swallowed his cigar.

"So this is what my Father found. I thought Halo was some sort of super weapon?" Keys asked in a puzzled voice.

"It is, if activated this ring will cause destruction on a galactic scale." Said Cortana in her usual cold empty voice.

"I want all the information you've got on the first Halo. Schematics, topography, whatever, I don't care if I have the clearance or not." The commander was sounding a bit more demanding.

"Yes ma'am."

I didn't know how to feel about what I just herd. "Rog did you hear all that?"

"Yeah, well I guess were going to learn a lot more about this thing when we get down there." Sarcastically.

"Given what we know about this ring, it's even more important that we capture the Prophet of Regret. Find out why he came to Earth, Why he came here? Chief take first platoon, hard drop, secure a landing zone. Sargent load up two flights of pelicans and follow them."

Johnson responded with. "Aye aye ma'am."

"Until I can move and fight I'm going to keep a low profile. Once you leave the ship, you're on your own."

Then what I didn't expect to hear was the Spartans voice. "Understood."

_So that's what he sounds like. _I was thinking about how I was going to be fighting side by side with a legendary Spartan. I soon noticed the countdown in the corner of my visor and braced to drop. One by one the HEV pods released from the ship into free fall towards the ring world. From the inside I could see the black of space turn into sky blue, but as we entered the atmosphere the outside of the pod was engulfed in fire and things started getting warm inside. After entry, the metallic parachute deployed to slow the drop, but released the next second and I resumed the free fall. The other incoming pods looked like glorious fiery comets striking fearlessly into their targets.

As we approached ground covie plasma rounds exploded all around us but to no avail. The HEV pods were too small and too fast for them to hit which was the idea. In comparison when landing soldiers in a front line attack ODST drop pods were small and fast, where a pelican drop ship was bigger and more cumbersome. On top of that in terms of casualties if by some enemy stroke of luck or skill they were able to hit and destroy an incoming pod, only one soldier plus a relatively disposable pod would be lost. Instead of ten marines and they're expensive pelican drop ship.

I felt my pod hit something it was able to break through easily but then we hit the ground for real, then my straps released and my training kicked in. I grabbed my Battle rifle and the hatch popped open to the site of plasma bolts impacting the ground and stonework of the mysterious ruins all around the area. I took notice of the situation as I ran to cover which took shape in the form of a stone wall about five yards in front of where I had landed. There were three other HEV pods around me with the same number of Helljumpers doing exactly as I had when landing. Surprisingly we weren't in an open field or valley but instead it was a small light brown stone coliseum with a stone cage like roof that had four sizable holes in it from our entry. One of the ODSTs saw me looking up at them. He had similar white colored stripes and patches on his armor except for the chest plate which was blue. He wielded a suppressed SMG with a small holographic sight and said in the voice of a young soldier. "Captain Kennedy. Ya think they're pissed at us for what we did to the rood?"

"haha, I don't know marine but we better kick there asses and get out of here before more of them show up."

After the joke, a large green explosion boomed over our heads which chipped away at the wall. "Scatter." I yield.

While I stayed the ODSTs ran to different sides of the room, two going right to take a new position behind another wall and the other Helljumper ran behind a pillar as the covie with the explosives reviled himself. It was a blue armored Elite minor with a fuel rod gun. Covies really were not big fans of taking cover in a fire fight so the elite was standing in the open with several grunts around him with a few jackals behind the walls, in exception of one with a shield gauntlet in the middle of the grunts. The elite fired at the two helljumpers behind cover to no avail as the stone proved very effective at protecting from energy weapons, but that's where I saw my chance to strike so I leaned out of cover to fire on semi-automatic as fast as I could pull trigger. 9.5mm rounds impacted the largest alien who's shield quickly flared silver, then faded. I smirked inside my helmet and said in a surprisingly calm voice. "This one's for Earth you bustards."

I fired one more time and the last bullet struck the elite in the head which jerked back and fell over with a light spray of blue colored blood from the clean head shot. With the elite dead the five grunts and shielded jackal surrounding him moved up to try and surround me but were cut down under the fire of the Helljumpers hitting them from the sides. In the mess I ran forward to throw a fragmentation grenade behind the wall on the second floor where the pair of remaining jackals were with a. "Grenade out!"

After the shoot out the humans regrouped to assesse the situation as I took control of the squad and checked there ID tags from my HUD. "Okay troopers you know the mission. Find the Prophet of Regret, capture him, and bring his sorry ass back to Earth so we can drive the covenant out of our home."

The ODSTs all nodded their heads and gave a. "yes sir." But not in sync.

The young trooper with the blue armor plate. Corporal Fill T. Marco did speak. "Captain where do we go from here? This place looks like a massive city."

I did think about that and knew the answer. "Simple marine. We find the Master Chief and go with him."

"but sir, how do we know where he is?"

I didn't respond right away as I contacted the ship. "In Amber Clad, this Captain Alan S. Kennedy on the ground. Do you have surveillance satellites over us?"

Commander Keys answered. "Yes Kennedy I have one over your position and ready to use."

"Much appreciated ma'am."

I got a 3D view of the area. It looked like an ancient Greek city with over grown vegetation in many parts of the areas and a few massive trees the size of sky scrapers. Then dozens of green lights appeared to indicate friendly forces with individual IDs. I found the Spartan's and put a way point over him and told the others to do the same. With a clear objective in mind the four Helljumpers walked through the ancient city weapons raised. All of them ready to fight and die for the future of our spices.


	2. Ambush

Dropped into hell

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo. It is the property of Microsoft.

**Warning:** There will be spelling and grammar errors I won't notice so please don't fill the comments telling me so.

**(A few things I forgot to say in chapter one. In this story I will be giving the UNSC some interesting and creative new gadgets for use. None of this will be braking cannon and will follow the plot of Halo 2. Also I know I labeled this a horror story but I can't really make it scary until the flood show up and don't tell me that's a spoiler because it's not)**

Date: November 2nd 2552

In orbit above the Earth Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood was in command of UNSC forces defending the human home world from an orbital defense platform the _Cairo_. The battle in space was finished with the only remaining Covenant ship hovering over the city of New Mombasa with whatever ground forces they were able to land. However the enemy was outnumbered, outgunned, and losing ground fast under intense air and ground attack by human forces. Hood was looking out into the battle cluster of ships wondering when the next wave would arrive. Hood turned his head to the stations operators which was no one in particular. "How's the situation on the ground coming along?"

A field commander standing at a large touch screen display of the city answered first. "Sir second platoon of Echo Company has push into the wild life preserve towards the Covenant ships LZ, but have become pin down under heavy fire. I'm redirecting third platoon to relive them."

At another similar station another commander said while moving his fingers across the screen. "Sir Lima and Foxtrot companies are advancing through the metropolitan area of the city and are closing in on the hostiles around the super currier."

Hood sounded relieved to hear the battle ground side was going well. "And the Master Chief?"

This time a naval officer at a trench terminal answered. "Sir the Master Chief has pushed deep into the occupied area and we have retaken much of the commercial district."

Hood looked down to a terminal and Commander Maranda Keys face appeared. "States?" asked the fleet admiral.

She wasn't even looking at him but out the window to the site of the super carrier. "Sir the prophet is bugging out, request permission to engage."

Hood took no time to proses that. One light frigate up agents a Covenant super carrier was unquestionably suicide. So the correct course of action was clear. "Negative commander. Il vector two heavy's for star side intercept."

As he was about to order up two heavy destroyers to bring some pain onto the carrier he herd one of _In amber clads _crew men yell. "Ma'am, slip space rupture off the targets bow. It's goanna jump inside the city."

This time Keys looked right to Hood. "There's no time sir!"

Capturing that prophet and hopefully his ship was priority one and letting them escape was absolutely unacceptable. "Green light, green light to engage!"

Hood turned back towards the crew and started barking orders. "Get me two heavy destroyers down there now! And find out where that ship is going."

The next thing Hood knew there was a massive blue flash down where the city was and the Cairo was scrambling with activity. The fleet admiral knew what he had to do. "Do we have any ships ready to transport ground forces?"

A naval officer pulled up a roster of ships to check. "Sir the heavy destroyers _Yorktown_ and _Charleston_ are available for pursuit. The phoenix class vessel the _Forge_ is also ready to be loaded for ground side operations."

"Good as soon those ships are ready I want them to follow through slip space to aid the _In Amber Clad. _Where ever they went?" That last part sounded uncharacteristically nerves for the fleet admiral who's been around sense when the Insurrection was actually a notable problem.

**(On the Halo)**

Me and my newly formed squad were walking down what appeared to be an ally way that at one point had a roof. But the former ceiling was broken and had rays of sunlight beaming in from the top. The stone itself was the same pale green and light brown with the ground changing between stone floors and grass. I could only wonder who lived here. I mean if a civilization could build this ring, then what was the purpose of having this city that looked like something humans would build two thousand years ago.

As we were about to leave the ally I heard a noise that sounded like the hovering of a covenant wraith tank. I didn't want to take the risk of taking armor head on without heavy weapons so I ordered everyone down. The wraith was getting louder and from the end of the ally in a voice that was unmistakable I heard. "I can smell the humans. They are close."

One of my troopers said to himself. "Brutes."

I noticed a hole in the side of the ally that looked more like it was blasted open but I didn't really care. I silently walked over to it and looked around inside with my battle rifle shouldered. After determining it was all clear I gestured to my squad to move in with me. The place looked like somebody's living room but in the same color and design that everything else here had. After we were all inside I used the surveillance satellite launched from the ship to check out the situation. The brutes had stopped just outside the ally and were holding position, as if they were looking for something. The wraith was in the middle of what was probably a rode with six brutes around it.

"Find where the creature hides!" The brute captain barked at the minors.

Quietly Corporal Marco said. "I don't think he was talking about us. He said creature and those apes are smart enough to know we don't go in alone."

Another ODST in our group Privet Hennery C. Walker was walking slowly up the stairs to a door that led outside. "Hay guys. There's a bridge leading over to building across the road." He said with his battle rifle trained at the door.

I looked at him and said. "But there's no way to get across without those brutes seeing us. We need to take them out."

The final helljumper, Privet Larry C. Marks proposed a solution. Holding his M7 SMG in one hand while holding forth what looked like a rounded cylinder shaped grenade with a white stripe running across the middle he said. "This is a white phosphorus grenade. It's used to quickly destroy downed vehicles and fry its components so the enemy can't salvage anything. I wonder what it would do to a wraith tank?"

White phosphorus has been in use by humans for hundreds of years. Something about the UNSC was that if a technology works well enough as is, then there wasn't really a need to develop something better, like the fragmentation grenade. The four ODSTs worked out their plan to take out the brutes and find what they were looking for.

Marco, Walker, and I quickly and quietly took a position on the bridge behind the stone wall as we marked our targets. There was five brute minors in blue light armor using plasma weapons and one captain in gold heavy armor using a brute shot grenade launcher. The six brutes were scattered about not paying attention to the bridge but that was what we were hoping for. I nodded to Marco and he pulled out a flash bang. The three of us retracted our weapons to by completely counseled by the stone work. Marco threw the flash bang out of a hole on the other side of the bridge.

The wrath and its six supporting brutes turned to face in the direction of the flash. The brutes slowly walked over to the area of the flash while the wrath stayed put. While they were distracted, Marks sprinted out of the ally way and got behind the wraith. He primed the white phosphorous grenade and tossed it into the vent in the vent of the tank. Marks was able to sprint half way to an ally on the opposite side of the road when the wraith exploded in white and blue plasma fire.

All six brutes turned to face the burning, melted, tank which was my signal to give the order over my helmet com. "Engage!"

All three of us on the bridge peeled out of cover to open fire on the brutes in the road below. Two brutes went down swiftly from the ambush while the others minors got closer and returned fire. Brute armor was strong but often left large exposed areas of the body venerable, so a round could ether be a critical hit on exposed flesh or just bounce off. While I focused on the closest brute warrior, the other two helljumpers unleashed a barrage of gun fire onto the captain. Sparks from the impacts were all over its armor leaving dents as the massive alien wobbled backwards and fell over.

Marks ran up and took cover behind a part of the wraith that was not on fire right next to a dead brute and started shooting. The remaining brutes, now outnumbered and out flanked were shooting off there plasma weapons wildly in the direction of the humans on the bridge. One brute went down. Then another. But as the last one is struck with a killing blow, marks takes a bolt of plasma to his left shoulder and yelled. "I'm hit!"

The ODST fell back and leaned his head to the right keep his it away from the heat of the impact. With us being the only thing still moving we assumed it was safe to get down and help Marks. "Don't worry Marks, were coming for you!" yelled Walker.

Marks started to get up and leaned against the part of the wraith that was cool and not on fire. As we approached him I noticed a red dot appear in my motion tracker. Before we could turn around completely Marks called out in a weak voice. "Behind you!"

The three of us turned around to see the brute captain standing behind us holding his brute shot over his head like an executioner ready to chop with his axe. Walker was the closest to the hulking alien and backed away from it while holding up his battle rifle by the barrel and stock in an attempt to us it like a shield. The brute swung down and cut the rifle in half but narrowly missed walker. Without thinking Marco and I charged the brute head on with our knives, stabbing into the exposed flesh where some of the armor popped off. The brute was almost twice our size, but the wounded alien was brought down under the combined presser of two helljumpers operating on pure adrenaline. Before I could drive my knife into its skull the brute captain grabbed me by the back and pulled me off. It used its other arm to knock Marco off as well.

The brute captain turned his attention to Walker who had ran over to one of its dead comrades and grabbed one of their plasma repeater. He was about to start shooting when I saw Marks prime a covie spike grenade and throw it like a baseball. The grenade hit the brute directly in the back and stuck there. It tried to reach around its back to try and pull it off to no avail. The spike grenade detonated, leaving a massive cavity in its back and finishing it off for good.

Before I got up I looked down and noticed that one of the stray spikes land in between my legs. I could only chuckle at the site. "That was close."

After pulling ourselves together from the fight, I ran over to Marks so I could make sure he was ok. Walker pulled out a bio foam injector and sprayed his burnt shoulder and neck. Marks groaned in relief as to how good the nice cool bio foam felt on his burn wounds. "Ah that feels good."

Marco asked in a joking voice. "You feeling better princes?"

He chuckled. "You know it sweet heat."

"Can you do your job?"

"Yeah. I think so."

I looked at him. "Okay guys, the Covenant were looking for something over here so I think we should split up and find out what it is."

The four ODSTs split up to search the area. "Find anything?" I asked over my helmet com after ten minutes of searching around.

I was standing on the roof of the three story building we took shelter in earlier and was about to give up the search when I head a strange noise from the corner of the roof. What I had mistaken for a piece of covie equipment began to move and started floating. The top of it was several purple spikes and below was a number of light blue tentacles. In front was a single tentacle with a darker color mask that looked almost like a helmet.

This new alien had no obvious weapons and was slowly floating in my direction so I instinctively griped my battle rifle but I didn't raise it seeing as how it didn't seem to pose an immediate threat. Instead I slowly walked forward to meet it half way. As I got closer it had a soft whiny noise that made it sound sad. _This isn't right. All the covies I have ever encountered would try to too kill me on the spot. Is this what the brutes were looking for?_

"You're not like the rest of the Covenant are you?"

I slung my rifle over my shoulder and reached out to it to what it would do. It rested its head in my hands. The helmet it was wearing was cold but up close looked like something out of a horror movie, where a poor soul is forced to wear dark pieces of armor to symbolize their subservience. I took a deep breath and said. "I'm going to help you."

I got a grip on the creatures mask and looked for a release. After failing to find one I only had one idea left and don't know if he would like it. I grabbed the ends of the helmet and pulled on it hard enough to pull the mask off a grunt. The helmet came off with a snap and I fell on my ass but the creature started making a more existed noise. It sounded happy but that didn't last long. The spikes on the aliens back bloomed like a flower and it began to float upwards with a rapidly accelerating beeping. A beeping like that was a pretty universal language that could only mean… "Oh shit!"

I ran back and took cover behind a broken wall to avoid the blast which looked like a plasma grenade in midair. Pieces of the alien were scared on the roof top with sparkly blue lights floating down from where the poor creature had once been. I looked at the mess with sympathy for the poor being, wondering why the covenant would go to such length to make sure they don't get freed. I reproached the spot and was examining the remains when Marco came over the com. "Sir I heard an explosion from your direction. Are you okay?"

I looked deeply at the remains of the alien and replied in a sympathetic voice. "Yeah I'm fine. Listen, everyone get up here. I found what the brutes were looking for."


End file.
